MassachusettsA contributing property in the Springfield Armory National Historic Site, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. A National Historic Landmark comprising Armory Square, the fifty-four-acre hilltop administrative core of the Springfield Armory, the federal arsenal formally established in 1794. Arranged around an 8.75-acre parade ground, the complex holds nearly thirty brick buildings, mostly in a restrained functional idiom with Greek Revival and Federal detailing, ranging in date from the 1807 West Arsenal through World War II, unified by consistent scale, white trim, slate roofs, and a mid-19th-century iron fence. The Armory served the American Revolution as a supply depot, was the target of Shays' Rebellion in 1787, pioneered the interchangeability of parts, and for decades was the nation's principal manufacturer of military small arms. It is significant in military and industrial history and as the best-preserved administrative center of a major arsenal that reached its greatest growth in the first half of the 19th century.
Springfield Armory - Roadway System
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Springfield Armory - Roadway System is a landmark in Springfield, Hampden County. It is one of 3,654 landmarks documented in Hampden County, among 3,815 historic sites cataloged across the county on MassRoam.
The site sits at 42.1066, -72.5807 near Springfield. The nearest cataloged historic site is Springfield Armory - Double Officers' Quarters (landmark), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Springfield Armory - Original Purchase Marker, Springfield Armory - West Arsenal, and Springfield Armory - Tennis Court.
This record is drawn from public historical records. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
The drives and paths here knit together a hilltop post that made United States military small arms from 1794 to 1968, and where interchangeable parts, hourly wages and factory cost accounting were worked out alongside the guns. Rifle production climbed from 9,601 in 1860 to 276,200 in 1864 to arm the Union. The enclosure they run inside is itself a relic: unable to get an appropriation for a fence, Major James W. Ripley had obsolete cannon melted down and recast as nine-foot iron palings set in red sandstone, a job finished in 1890. Springfield Technical Community College now occupies part of the grounds.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
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